I am only 21 but I am a firm believer and advocate of coupons. I use them because I get that great sensation of knowing I saved money even if it is only fifty cents. Using coupons upon several other tactics is the reason I believe I am so good with money. There are some instances where I have even chosen to switch my meals last minute over the fact that I didn’t have a coupon for the exact meal I wanted. Even with clothes and especially with shoes coupons can be twenty to sixty dollar save if you use them appropriately and in the right time and fashion. I guess I would say that yes coupons actually do influence the places I go to. For example, its 9:30 and I want pizza hut to eat for dinner. Just then one of my friends walks in and says they have a coupon for Papa Johns to get the same size pizza for four dollars less. Now who in their right mind who has a limited amount of funds is still going to get pizza hut under such conditions? That four dollars could lead to us getting pizza again next time we want it instead of a preferred company to make the pizza when all we want is pizza for dinner. The fact is that I am on a very strict budget and every dollar counts. So if collecting small pieces of paper for certain companies is the equivalent of saving money, I would be foolish not to attain free money printable from the computer or even usable through my cellular device. So since coupons are basically free currency to whatever company is upon the coupon, I would have to say that coupon do influence my decisions on where I eat and shop.

I also am very conscious on the amount of money saved through coupons and on a few occasions have even added up all the money I saved just because I decided to shop smarter and use coupons. In a span of two weeks after clothes shopping and eating out about as much as the average individual does in a span of two weeks (about 8 nights eating out), I realized that I had saved almost $172 and even better, was that for some reason I noticed I had an extra $120 dollars around the time I am normally strapped for cash and forcing down ramen noodles. Since being in college money is especially limited and coupons are almost the biggest sensation in my dorm hall. Every Tuesday and Thursday a couple of the girls and I are always searching through our room high and low looking for a coupon booklet so we can decide what we want to eat. Hence I’ll say again, we are searching not only for a coupon booklet, but basically our menu for the night on what we are going to eat. We don’t just brainstorm and figure out what we have a combined taste for. Instead, we look at the coupon booklet as it ranges from beer nuggets and pizza to cheese bread and fries from dominos.

Since I have been at NIU the only things I have ordered to eat is pizza from Dominos and beer nuggets from Lukolos. These two entrees are also the two most popular coupons on campus or most handed it out if you will. So I would have to say that giving out coupons is nothing less than excellent advertising because I didn’t even prefer Dominos or even know what beer nuggets were before coupons made me try them out. Thus coupons are influential and definitely influence my choices of where I shop and eat because I am an individual on a tight budget and every dollar definitely counts especially when Friday rolls around and I want some extra spending money for the weekend. If I can save $50 during every week because of coupons then all that means that I can use that money for fun instead of just using it to get items I was going to buy regardless.